Pages

Ads 468x60px

Labels

Get Social with 'Reel Talk'

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Chime In: What Makes Prequels So Appealing?

Henry Cavill and Amy Adams in Man of Steel

I was asking myself this recently. With the success of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, and the revivals of other superhero stories like Captain America and the upcoming Man of Steel, there is certainly an interest and even a demand to revisit the primal stories of these famed characters.

But why is that? What makes this story tactic so effective, so enthralling to watch (at least, when it's done right)? What makes you as the audience eager to see these characters and stories reborn? What makes a prequel, in some cases, better than a sequel?

Rather than delving into the discussion on my own, this time I've decided to pose the question to you, the reader. Please share your thoughts below in the comments section on what you love (or hate) about the movie prequel domination.

3
comments:

For comic book characters, I think it's always interesting to see how they got there. For comics, they mostly keep moving forward and rarely go back. I think that's why prequels work for them. We know why Batman and Spiderman are badasses, but let's see how they got there.

Franchises benefit from them too. Even though the Star Wars prequels are terrible, I was still super excited for them when they came out because I wanted to know how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.

Great post and question Candice! First, I grew up loving comic book superheroes so it is just a thrill to see them alive on the big screen. Secondly prequels are amazing because they can really make the superheroes more real and believable in the real world. These films show the heroes with human flaws. That inspires me to believe in my own greatness!

I think prequels work when we've become invested in certain characters, and then we want to know how they came to be. Usually, in the prequel, we see the more human side of them, before their fame or achievement or notoriety. that more human side is one we can relate to more readily, and so it fascinates--there but for the grace of god and all that.

Reel Bytes

More About Reel Talk Online and Its Founder

Writer for hire, Lover of Snark, Former editor at Essence Magazine and Co-Host of the podcast, "Cinema in Noir".
I am mostly freelance writing right now, more so than blogging. You can find my work on The Mary Sue, Vice, Harper's Bazaar, Hello Beautiful, Thrillist, Birth.Movies.Death, and /Film. (https://www.clippings.me/candicefrederick)
I am also a member of the Online Film Critics Society, Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and LAMB (Large Association of Movie Bloggers). My aim for this blog is to write honest, compelling film reviews and commentary that highlight my perspective on film, TV and diversity in pop culture.